Washington, DC , Beijing, January 27, 2015 – Keiko Honda, the Executive Vice President and CEO of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)—the political risk insurance and credit enhancement... Show More + arm of the World Bank Group—will visit China January 28-30. The visit will underscore MIGA’s commitment to support both outbound and inbound foreign direct investment in the country.Honda will meet with government officials, financial institutions, and the private sector to discuss the role MIGA can play in assisting Chinese investors as they look for opportunities outside the country. She will note the Agency’s experience in catalyzing private-sector involvement in projects that provide sustainable development solutions for emerging markets.Additionally, Honda will discuss ways in which MIGA can support the government’s public-private partnership agenda, especially in the infrastructure sector, through the Agency’s investment guarantees. MIGA’s past support includes projects in the wate Show Less -

Kim outlines vision for private, public sectors to work together to lessen riskWASHINGTON, January 27, 2015— Saying the world was “dangerously unprepared” for future pandemics, World Bank Group President... Show More + Jim Yong Kim today laid out a vision in which insurance companies, governments, multi-lateral organizations, corporations and international donors worked together to build a system that would help all countries prepare for potentially catastrophic health disasters.“The Ebola outbreak has been devastating in terms of lives lost and the loss of economic growth in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone,” Kim told an audience at Georgetown University. “We need to make sure that we get to zero cases in this Ebola outbreak. At the same time, we need to prepare for future pandemics that could become far more deadly and infectious than what we have seen so far with Ebola. We must learn the lessons from the Ebola outbreak because there is no doubt we will be faced with other pandemics in the years to Show Less -

The Government of Malaysia and the World Bank Group signed agreements today to establish a knowledge and research office in Kuala Lumpur to share its successful development experience with countries striving... Show More + to make the same transition out of poverty and into shared prosperity.Second Minister of Finance, H.E. Dato’ Seri Ahmad Husni Mohamad Hanadzlah and Governor Bank Negara Malaysia, Dr. Zeti Akhtar Aziz, signed on behalf of Malaysia, and World Bank Vice President for East Asia Axel van Trotsenburg signed on behalf of the World Bank.The new World Bank Group Office will combine both operational expertise and research. It will facilitate the sharing of Malaysia’s successful development experiences with countries around the world. It will also allow Malaysia to further leverage global knowledge and expertise from the World Bank towards its transformation into a developed, high-income economy. “Our partnership with Malaysia will boost the World Bank’s ability to remain a so Show Less -

DHAKA, January 26, 2014 – The Government of Bangladesh today signed a $375 million financing agreement with the International Development Association (IDA) for the Multipurpose Disaster Shelter Project. IDA... Show More + is the World Bank’s concessional arm that helps the world’s poorest countries.The Multipurpose Disaster Shelter Project will construct 552 new multipurpose disaster shelters, improve 450 existing shelters, and build connecting roads and communication networks in 9 coastal districts. The project will benefit 14 million coastal populations living in the front line of climate change. The project will introduce steel shelter designs for the first time in Bangladesh for improved construction quality and durability.“Its geographical location makes Bangladesh prone to floods and cyclones, and climate change could increase the frequency and intensity of these extreme-weather events,” said Johannes Zutt, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh. “The project will build and Show Less -

World Bank approves US$7 million Grant for Energy Sector Development ProjectWASHINGTON, January 26, 2014—The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved US$7 million grant for the Tuvalu Energy... Show More + Sector Development Project (ESDP), which will support Tuvalu’s goals of 100 percent renewable energy and 30 percent efficiency improvements by 2020.The Tuvalu ESDP will support a reduction in the reliance on imported fuel for electricity generation through investment in renewable energy development, increasing the efficiency of energy supply and use, and improving the capacity of the Government of Tuvalu and the national energy supplier – the Tuvalu Energy Corporation (TEC) – to better manage energy delivery.“Facilitating the delivery of efficient and renewable energy in Tuvalu will ultimately help to improve the affordability and sustainability of electricity services for households and businesses,” said Franz Drees-Gross, Country Director for the World Bank in Timor-Leste, Papua N Show Less -

SINGAPORE, January 26, 2015 — Almost 200 million people moved to urban areas in East Asia from 2000-2010 – a figure that would be the world’s sixth-largest population for any single country, according... Show More + to new data released today by the World Bank.For the first time, the data compares urban areas and their populations in a consistent manner across East Asia, providing governments and local leaders with a better understanding of the shape and scale of the growth so they can get urbanization right – creating opportunities for all.“Rapid urbanization is a significant challenge for East Asia, but we cannot manage what we cannot measure,” said Axel van Trotsenburg, the World Bank East Asia and Pacific Regional Vice President. “We’re releasing this data so urban leaders can get a better picture and take action to ensure that urban growth benefits the increasing number of people moving to cities, especially the poor.”Analyzed in a new report titled “East Asia’s Changing Urban Landscape: Me Show Less -

DHAKA, January 25, 2015 — The Government of Bangladesh today signed a $400 million financing agreement with the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s concessional arm, for additional... Show More + financing of the ongoing Third Primary Education Development Program (PEDP3). The loan will benefit 19.5 million children in primary school by ensuring quality learning and completion of the primary school cycle.Under the additional financing, the World Bank will scale up support for improving primary education from grades 1 to 5. PEDP3 will also continue the rollout of one year of pre-primary education with trained teachers and quality materials, with a focus on public primary schools in disadvantaged areas. Additionally, the program will expand efforts to bring out-of-school children into the school system.“Today, nearly every child in Bangladesh attends primary school, thanks to successive government programs to bring all boys and girls into the classroom,” said Johanness Zutt, W Show Less -

Following her meeting with Boyko Borissov, the Prime Minister for Bulgaria, Mamta Murthi, World Bank Regional Director for Central Europe and the Baltic Countries, emphasized that, “It... Show More + was very encouraging to learn that stability and social consensus are the main focus of the new government program for Bulgaria’s development during the 2014-2018 period, just adopted by Council of Ministers. As an EU member state, Bulgaria is fully equipped to achieve faster, more inclusive and sustainable growth that would work for all Bulgarians. The World Bank is committed to continue supporting Bulgaria in these efforts.”“The government is committed to restoring stability and paving the way for speeding up convergence with EU living standards. The partnership with the World Bank has been traditionally strong and sound and we will continue counting on this institution for strategic advice and financial support,” said Prime Minister Boyko Borissov. Show Less -

WASHINGTON, January 22, 2015 – The World Bank Group’s (WBG) Board of Executive Directors today approved a US$70million International Development Association (IDA) credit to support the Government... Show More + of Rwanda (GoR) improve the efficiency, coverage and harmonization of its social protection system. This World Bank Development Policy Operation (DPO) is designed to support the government’s National Social Protection Strategy and continue Rwanda’s effort to address chronic poverty and reduce the impacts of external shocks on poor people through a larger and more efficient social protection system.“Building on the previous DPO series, this proposed programmatic work will help the Government of Rwanda stay on course for reaching its poverty reduction goals, while addressing a new set of reforms critical to strengthening Rwanda’s social protection system,” said Carolyn Turk, World Bank Country Manager for Rwanda.With support from other international donors and the WBG, Rwan Show Less -

WASHINGTON, January 22, 2015 – This year may well see a rare occurrence for world commodity markets – a decline in all nine key commodity price indices, says the World Bank’s latest Commodity Markets Outlook,... Show More + released today.While oil prices have seen the most dramatic decline, the third largest since World War II, other commodities have also been gradually weakening in recent months. And this broad-based weakness is expected to continue throughout 2015, before beginning a modest turn around in 2016.In oil markets, a “perfect storm” of conditions has led to a plunge in prices since mid-2014: growth in unconventional oil production, decline in demand, appreciation of the U.S. dollar, receding geopolitical risks, and a major redirection toward maintaining market share rather than targeting prices by the world’s oil cartel, Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Oil prices have dropped 55 percent in seven months, from the most recent high of $108 per barrel in mid-June 2 Show Less -

ANKARA, January 21, 2015—Together with the Ministry of Development, EU Commission Delegation to Turkey, and the Central Finance and Contracts Unit (CFCU), the World Bank today kicked off the Regional Investment... Show More + Climate Assessment Project.Co-financed by the European Union and the Republic of Turkey, the project’s objective is to contribute to the reduction of regional disparities in Turkey, and to the sustainable development of the country by improving the investment climate at both regional and national levels.The Regional Investment Climate Assessment Project will help identify bottlenecks to growth and investment at the regional level. Identification of these bottlenecks is the first step in removing them and promoting private sector development across Turkey. The project will also help to build regional and central government institutional capacity to evaluate the quality of the investment climate using empirically based methods, and, thus, contribute to continuous monitoring of pro Show Less -

WASHINGTON, January 21, 2015–Health expenditures have risen sharply in the Palestinian territories due to the recent conflict in Gaza (July-August 2014) and the increase in medical referrals abroad which... Show More + has taken a heavy toll on the economy. The US$8.5 million Health System Resiliency Strengthening Project, approved today by the World Bank Group Board of Executive Directors, will support the Palestinian Authority (PA) in maintaining delivery of healthcare services and building resilience to withstand future surge in demand.The recent conflict in Gaza has taken a great toll on the health sector. The number of casualties and wounded, the inability to keep up with housekeeping and sterilization, and the increase in the rate of infections after discharge from hospitals and primary health care facilities have added an enormous strain on Gaza's health sector which will be partly addressed by the project through the urgent financing component.“It is now more pressing and important than ever Show Less -

New Delhi, January 20, 2015: Jobs and migration are supporting considerable upward mobility among both the poor and the vulnerable sections of the population in India. Households from Scheduled Castes... Show More + and Scheduled Tribes – considered together – experienced upward mobility comparable to that of the rest of the population, says a new World Bank report.The report Addressing Inequality in South Asia split the Indian population into three groups – the poor, the vulnerable and the middle class and compares households in these categories between 2004-2005 and 2009-2010. It found that over that period some 15 percent of the total population or 40 percent of the poor in India moved above the poverty line. Meanwhile, a sizeable portion of the poor and the vulnerable – over 9 percent of the total population or about 11 percent of the poor and vulnerable – moved into the middle class. However, over 9 percent of the total population or about 14 percent of the non-poor group also slipped into pover Show Less -

BRUSSELS, January 20, 2015—The Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF), an innovative program managed by the World Bank Group, today launched indexinsuranceforum.org, an online knowledge platform for index-insurance... Show More + practitioners globally. The platform will feature knowledge products, research and discussions on key issues related to the development of innovative insurance solutions.The platform offerings are geared to address vital areas of index-insurance including product design, sales and distribution, consumer education, sustainability and innovation and regulation. The current mix of knowledge products available on the platform include industry and technical briefs, impact stories, index-insurance data maps, profiles of key service providers, country profiles, research publications, video interviews, event-related news and information, and other exclusive and high-value content.“This new platform is an important collaborative space that enables practitioners to access information Show Less -

Progress driven by agricultural growth, investments in basic services and effective safety netsADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia January 20, 2015- Agricultural growth was the main driver of poverty reduction in Ethiopia... Show More + since 2000, according to the World Bank Group’s latest Poverty Assessment. Poverty in Ethiopia fell from 44 percent in 2000 to 30 percent in 2011, which translated to a 33 percent reduction in the share of people living in poverty. This decline was underpinned by high and consistent economic growth. Since 2005, agricultural growth has been responsible for a reduction in poverty of 4 percent a year, suggesting that the agricultural growth strategy pursued by the Government of Ethiopia has paid off. High food prices and good weather ensured that increased use of fertilizer was translated into higher incomes for poor farmers with access to markets. Government spending on basic services and effective rural safety nets has also helped the least well-off in Ethiopia. The Show Less -

Africa-wide impact in 2015The Bank Group expects sub-Saharan Africa to grow at 4.6 percent in 2015, down from a 5.0 percent forecast in June 2014. Projections have been lowered because of global events,... Show More + including the West African Ebola epidemic as well as the net effect of winners and losers from a steep fall in the global prices of oil and other commodities. Key risks to this projected growth include a renewed spread of Ebola, violent insurgencies, further reductions in commodity prices, and volatile global financial conditions.Much of the economic impact of Ebola beyond the epicenter of directly affected West African countries is based on fear, as was the case during the SARS outbreak in East Asia a decade ago. This fear – as well as the associated aversion behavior – relates to concerns that the epidemic cannot be contained (heightened by several cases in the USA and the EU) and in some cases to misperceptions about African geography (some of the economically affected countries have Show Less -

Islamabad, Pakistan, January 19, 2015— IFC’s investments in Pakistan will boost the private sector and support to tap new energy sources to ease power shortages, Jin-Yong Cai, CEO of IFC, a member of the... Show More + World Bank Group, said during a visit to Islamabad.On Monday, Cai met government leaders, including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Finance Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar. He said IFC, which has invested $5.2 billion in Pakistan to date, is committed to helping the country tackle some of its most pressing challenges—from unemployment to energy shortage—by catalyzing new investment outside the public sector.“Private businesses, both large and small, are the backbone of Pakistan’s economy, but they are often held back by power outages, excessive red tape, and a shortage of credit,” Cai said. “By tackling these issues, we can help companies unlock their potential and create the economic opportunities that Pakistanis are eager for.”IFC is expected to invest about $500 million annually in Paki Show Less -

KATHMANDU, January 19, 2015 – Annette Dixon, the World Bank’s Vice President for South Asia, today congratulated the Government on the progress it has made and encouraged Nepal to persist with its economic... Show More + reforms aimed at fostering sustained growth to benefit all the people in the country. During a three-day official visit, Dixon held meetings with Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and senior Government of Nepal officials including Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat, Energy Minister Radha Kumari Gyawali, Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank Yubaraj Khatiwada and Chief Executive Officer of the Nepal Investment Board, Radhesh Pant, to discuss the government’s development priorities and the World Bank’s program of support to Nepal in the areas of investment, infrastructure and inclusion.“Nepal has made remarkable progress in overcoming poverty and spreading shared prosperity more widely among its people,” Dixon said at the conclusion of her visit. “It now has the chance to build critical infras Show Less -

US$55 Million in Additional Financing Will Permit Improvements in Service and to Continue Rehabilitation of Older NetworksWASHINGTON, DC, January 16th, 2015 – The World Bank Board of Executive Directors... Show More + approved US$55 million in new financing today for a project that will extend the benefits of rehabilitating water and sewage networks to more than 239,000 low income residents in Northern Lima.“This new financing builds on the results of the first stage of the project carried out in Northern Lima,” said Marco Vargas Medina, General Manager of SEDAPAL. “Improving the coverage and the quality of the sewage system and bringing running water to the most vulnerable population is the challenge we assumed previously; our commitment is to achieve good results in the coming years.”This new phase of the “Lima Running Water and Sewage System Optimization” project will be undertaken jointly with the Lima Running Water and Sewage Service (SEDAPAL).Alberto Rodriguez, World Bank Director for Bolivia, Show Less -